This application relates to the exchange of information via the World Wide Web and, particularly, to a method and apparatus for allowing one or more persons to store custom information for a Web document that is being viewed.
With the proliferation of the internet and the popularity of the World Wide Web, large amounts of information are accessible to anyone connected to the internet who has Web browser software. A well-defined protocol called "HyperText Transfer Protocol" (HTTP) allows a browser to access Web documents. HTTP is described in the Web document stored at http://www.w3.org/pub/www/Protocols HTTP/1.0--Hypertext Transfer Protocol, T. Berners Lee, R. Fielding, H. Nielson, Aug. 3, 1995, which is incorporated by reference herein. The layout language for a Web document is called "HyperText Markup Language" (HTML). HTML is described in the internet document RFC1866 by T. Berners Lee MIT/W3C November 1995, ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc 1866.txt, which is also incorporated by reference herein.
Web documents are stored in HTML form in association with "server" software on a remote computer. An address of a specific Web document is called a "Uniform Resource Locator" (URL). A user employs "browser" software on a local client computer to request a document stored at a particular URL When the server receives the user's request, it sends the HTML for the requested document to the browser, which displays the document in accordance with the HTML
There are many popular servers and browsers. Currently, however, there is no mechanism for the user of a browser to store custom information (such as the user's own comments) in association with the documents that the user is viewing.
For example, a user may wish to annotate a Web-viewable document and, at a later date, view the document again in association with the prior annotations. It might be possible to modify the HTTP protocol, the browser and/or server software, so as to provide a mechanism whereby a user could store his or her comments in association with a Web-viewable document. However, because browsers and servers are commercial products, users cannot easily modify browser and/or server software to add this functionality. Moreover, users do not generally have access to the server software, which typically exists on a remote computer. Therefore, there is a need for a process and associated system which would enable a user browsing the Web to store information associated with a Web document, without the necessity of modifying HTTP protocols, the browser software and/or the server software.